Hello Ladies and Gentlemen,

I present to you the 2015 Historical Fiction Challenge.  There are 4 Bingo cards.  You can play as many cards as you want.  1 book can qualify just once on each card.  And for those that hate doing challenges, I made a card especially for you! 

I will create a new thread just for lists, and I'm really hoping no  one has a problem copying the cards 

LEVELS

Bingo = 5 squares filled on one card, either vertically, horizontally, or diagonally

Mega Bingo = 10 squares filled on one card, either vertically, horizontally, or diagonally (*2 books need to be read on the FREE square)

Super Bingo = 25 squares filled (entire card)

Each square has a corresponding number, so when you list your books you can list them as B1, I2, N3, G4, O5 as an example.

The challenge begins on January 1st and ends midnight December 31st.

CARD #1 - COUNTRIES

CARD #2 -  TIME PERIODS

CARD #3 - HF HODGEPODGE

CARD #4 - READER'S CHOICE

Nice job, Carolyn -- quite clever. I especially like the last card😉

Oh, very clever.  I like!

Great job Carolyn!

Whoa!!  I love this!!  Great job, Carolyn.  I really blew this year's challenge, so I'm all on board for this one.  Thanks for doing this!!

Vicky,

I totally failed at this year's challenge, too! You're not alone! 

CR

Wow...this will be soooooo fun!!!

Awesome, Carolyn!

I haven't exactly blown this year's challenge, but I don't think I'll get 100% of the way there before December 31, unless I quit working and read all day instead. I'll probably end up at 75-80% complete.

Lauri,

Work is overrated, anyway. 

How do you copy and paste the straight lines?

Valerie, I just highlighted the whole thing to copy, and then pasted it.  It all came through for me.

Great, thank you, Vicky.

Hello, girls!  I may not post much, but I'm still here!  I will finish the 2014 by the end of the year, and I am participating in 2015 as well.  Perhaps I will become a more regular poster again.  I sure miss you guys!

Great job on the challenge, Carolyn!

Okay...I'm officially a lunatic. I'm going through my most intriguing books on Mt. TBR to see where I can put them on the 2015 challenge cards, and holding off on starting them until after the new year!

You're not a lunatic, Lauri.  That's pretty standard for around here!  

...I am going to look through my TBR shelves and start making a list today, just so you won't feel alone!

CR

I don't read a lot of historical books, but this looks like fun. Will give it a try.

Mary,

Glad to have you aboard!! 

Question:  It says that a book may qualify only once on each card.  Can you use a book on more than one card?

Shelley,

Yes, you can use 1 book on multiple cards, just not twice on the same card. For example, I just finished Written in my Own Hearts Blood by Diana Gabaldon. I'll be pegging that in the USA spot on the countries card, the American revolution spot on the time period card, the half past/half present spot on the hodgepodge card, and a regular free on the reader's choice card. Sort of like real bingo - if you are playing multiple cards and B9 is called, you'd fill in all your B9's on all your cards :)

And remember, you have a free space on each card, so if a book shouldn't fit anywhere, you can plop it there!

Excellent, Carolyn, thank you!!

Card 3, G1 (NY Times Best Seller book). I read The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd. A solid 5/5 read for me. I love SMK's writing; she perfectly captures the "voices" of Sarah Grimke, the abolitionist daughter of a slave-holding, plantation family in Charleston and Handful, a house slave owned by the family.

SMK uses Handful (a fictional character) to help tell the true story of Sarah Grimke & her sister Angelina who were leaders in the abolitionist movement and in advancing the rights of women in the early 1800's. The book is well-researched and includes detailed author's notes.

Kelly

I started Into the Wilderness by Sara Donati for the Read a 500 page book category. I've heard this book is sort of like fan fiction for Outlander...any truth to this?

I guess that would depend on the personal preferences of the person speaking, Carolyn. I love the Outlander books (haven't read past the first 4 or 5 books, however ... just always had other things to read) and I love the Wilderness books - all six of them! 

In my opinion, in that they have strong female & male lead characters that you absolutely LOVE and in that it is a multi-book, multi-generational series, I guess they are similar, but I dunno ... "one being fan fiction for the other" ?? I think I would say no, but maybe I need clarification on exactly what that implies.

I know that if a person enjoyed one series, one will most likely enjoy the other series. 

Kelly

Ah, Kelly, I hate to shoot holes in your theory, but I loved the first 3 Outlander books (I haven't read the fourth, which I have in  my possession, but will some day), but I was really "meh" on Into the Wilderness. I really have no desire to read the rest of the books in the series.  I can't fathom why that is.  Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for a love story when I read ITW.  I don't typically like love stories; the Outlander books being the exception.

Ok, so I think I understand why someone said ITW was like fan fiction for Outlander - although I'm only 50 pages in and have another 800 pages to go. Donati mentions Gabaldon in her acknowledgments as being a mentor to her when she was writing ITW. I haven't really read anything so far that's been similar to Gabaldon. 

On another note, I'm not really liking Donati's  writing style. It's a little too, um, simplistic. She's literally telling me that Elizabeth is angry instead of showing me, and I'm feeling everyone and everything two dimensional. I'll finish the book, hell or high water lol

I failed miserably at last year's challenge and hardly read anything all year. Life blew up big time. But I'm back to reading and I think I can get several of my "read this year" books into this challenge, so I'm going to give it a whirl!